State Board of Forestry. 291 



2. GLEDITSIA. Tuk Honey Locusts. 



(Named in honor of John Gottlieb Gleditsoh, a German botanist.) 



Leaflets lanceolate-oblong; thorns many, long and usually 



forked; pods linear, seeds in a sweet pulp 1 (i. triacanthos. 



Leaflets ovate-oblong; thorns few and usually simple; 



pods oval, pulpless, 1 or 2 seeded 2 G. aquatica. 



1. Gleditsia triacanthos Linnaeus. Honey Locust. Thorn 

 Tree. Plate 103. Bark fissured, gray brown to almost black; 

 twigs reddish to greenish-brown, armed with stout spines; leaves 

 pinnate or twice pinnate, hairy when expanding, practically glab- 

 rous at maturity; flowers appear in May when the leaves are about 

 half grown, inconspicuous, greenish-yellow, the staminate in clustered 

 racemes, the pistillate usually in few-flowered racemes, rich in 

 honey, and their appearance will be announced by the hum the 

 swarm of insects make visiting them; fruit a flat, linear twisted 

 pod, 20-40 cm. (8-16 inches) long, with several seeds. 



Distribution. Southern Ontario east to the Alleghany mount- 

 ains, south to northern Alabama and Mississippi and west to 

 eastern Nebraska, Kansas and Texas. It is found in sparing num- 

 bers in all parts of the State. In the northern part it is confined 

 generally to the borders of streams, while in the southern part of 

 the State it is frequently found on the top of the wooded hills. In 

 Gibson, Knox and Posey Counties it is generally frequent or common 

 on the borders of ponds and sloughs. It is usually a tree of medium 

 size, though in the southern part of the State it grows to be a large 

 tree. 



The published records of the distribution are as follows: Cass 

 (Hessler); Clark (Baird and Taylor) and (Smith); Daviess (Clem- 

 ents); Dearborn (Collins); Decatur (Ballard); Delaware (Phinney); 

 Delaware, Jay, Randolph and Wayne (Phinney) ; Fayette (Hessler) ; 

 Fountain (Brown); Franklin (Meyncke); Gibson (Schneck); Ham- 

 ilton (Wilson); Jay (M'Caslin); Jefferson (Barnes), (Coulter) and 

 (Young); Knox (Ridgway) and (Thomas); Kosciusko (Coulter); 

 Marion (Wilson); Miami (Gorby); Monroe (Blatchley); Noble (Van 

 Gorder); Parke (Hobbs); Posey (Schneck); Putnam (MacDougal); 

 Steuben (Bradner) ; Tippecanoe (Coulter) ; Vigo (Blatchley) ; Wayne 

 (Petry and Markle). 



Additional records are: Knox (Schneck); Montgomery (Evans); 

 Tippecanoe (Dorner); Fountain, Posey, Vermillion and Wells 

 (Deam). 



Economic uses. Wood heavy, hard, strong, coarse-grained, 

 takes a good polish, reddish-brown. It is claimed to be very dur- 



